My eating schedule and amounts have slightly changed over the past year, so an update as a benchmark is in order. I haven't calculated the macros on these meals, so I'm not going to include the them. I think they are still relatively close to what I calculated in my first meal schedule post.

At the beginning of this week, I got curious and looked up the vitamin and mineral contents of the foods I eat, and discovered that I get more than 100% of my RDA of almost all vitamins and minerals just from the foods that I'm eating. I have been taking a daily multivitamin, but now I realize that it's unnecessary to take every day! I'm still taking calcium pills with every main meal to keep my kidney stones at bay, the pills also include magnesium and vitamin D. I'm going to switch to a non-magnesium pill on the next purchase, since i get plenty of it in my food.

Over the course of the workday, I'll also have approximately 3-4 servings of mixed nuts at random times, and perhaps another piece or two of fruit, depending how much I bring to work that day.

Dinner:I'm usually not very hungry when I get home from work, so it ends up depending on how hungry I am and how late it is. Sometimes it's just some chips and hummus, or a veggie burger on sprouted bread, or a couple of baked potatoes with earth balance spread, or 1/2 a block of tempeh, or some combination of any of those or random leftovers from the weekends when my meals go to shit, or some of whatever my wife has cooked up. I also have some Trader Joe's chocolate cat cookies or organic animal crackers - I'm addicted to these damn things.Usually an hour or two before I go to bed I'll have a protein shake:1 scoop of green plant protein powder (http://www.vitacost.com/Lifetime-Lifes-Basics-Plant-Protein-Powder-with-Greens1 scoop of raw sprout protein powder (http://www.vitacost.com/Garden-of-Life-RAW-Protein)-----------------------------------

Over the course of the non-workout workday, I'll also have approximately 3-4 servings of mixed nuts at random times, and 4 or 5 pieces of fruit, depending how much I bring to work that day.

Dinner:Again on these days I'm not very hungry when I get home, so I'll usually snack on something small and then have a protein meal replacement shake:2 scoops raw meal replacement powder (http://www.vitacost.com/Garden-of-Life-RAW-Meal)If for some reason I'm incredibly hungry I'll eat something else, but usually not.-----------------------------------

Weekends:My schedule goes to shit, and so does my eating. If I'm lucky I get 2/3 the caloric intake of a weekday, usually far less, and my protein intake drops.-----------------------------------

Every day I also have 1-2 oz of lemon juice diluted in water (adds citrates to my urine to ward against calcium oxalate kidney stone formation), and ~1 oz of apple cider vinegar diluted in water (anti-inflammatory and body PH balancing). The apple cider thing I picked up from my grandparents who drank/drink it regularly. My grandfather lived until 94 when he had a stroke stemming from blood clots from an injury to his leg. My grandmother is 95 and still going strong. I think I'll keep drinking the vinegar Granted, they were also omnivores who ate meat (in small portions) at 2 meals each day, so they needed the anti-inflammatory and PH balancing effects more than I do.

Squats were fine, only to parallel on the final set, as usual. I don't think I tried hard enough on the bench. I probably could have made the last rep with more leg drive and better effort, not sure why I didn't go for it. I paid close attention to my form on the rows this time, 3x5 was difficult at this weight with strict adherence to proper form, but doable. From this point forward I'm going to keep my form in check and only jump up the weight when I am satisfied I've done them properly, no matter how many times I end up lifting the same weight. As soon as I put on the weight belt, the added weight for dips felt heavy so I might have psyched myself out a little. Decent numbers anyway. Should hit it next time, if barely.

Reason for the ? on squat weight is due to not using the squat rack and doing BB back squats. Some jerks were using the rack for some barbell lever-action push pressing, one end of the bar on the floor against the inside corner of the rack, pushing the other end forward and up. I've seen plenty of kids doing this in the gym, but they usually use a corner of the room for the hinge point. They had just started and I didn't feel like waiting so my choices were smith machine, hack squat machine, or this other hinged squat machine. I always feel off balance in the smith machine, someone else was using the hack squat, so I used the third machine. I'm assuming the shoulder harness weighs about 45lbs, but you are not pushing the weight straight up, so you are not really pressing the full weight. Needless to say, with what I assumed was 285, I had no trouble going ATG and shooting up super fast popping the harness off my shoulders for a moment. Due to the angle and circular motion, I can probably assume only lifting 60% of those weights. But I digress...

My grip was shit today. I had decent energy and thought I'd be able to nail the deadlift, but on rep 3 started to feel my grip (mixed grip) giving out. 4th rep I didn't even get complete lockout before my grip started to fail. I let the bar back down and completely let go once it was past my knees. I should have been able to complete the set, so I waited a coupe minutes and did a couple more reps. My hands were pretty shot so pullups were a chore. Got distracted and lost count on the first set, either 7 or 8 reps. I was going for 3x8. I was barely able to make the 7 reps on the other two sets - needed some leg pumping to get all the way up, and even then just barely made it.

Depth sucked on squats. Had trouble finishing the set. Was feeling off due to eating too much at my previous meal. Last rep on bench was a struggle, took me a while to lock it out. Grunting "get up there!" while pushing helps . Started off a little loose on rows, then squared up my form on the last two sets. Dips were a little hard towards the end - just couldn't lock out the last one. Overall happy I hit all my major marks today and feeling good going into the weekend. Lately my back has felt a bit sore - I think it's from sleeping weird positions.

OHP felt pretty good, last one needed a little bump to get it up so not a done set. Deadlift went up well. I'm definitely stronger than I was when pulling this weight back in December. Hit the first set of 8 pullups pretty well, had to really fight to get even close to finishing the 7th rep on the other two sets. Upper body feels pretty worked-over right now

Felt great on the squats. Took a good effort but I was able to complete them without too much difficulty. Was feeling a little weak on the bench, I think it will be slow going from here on up. Rows were heavy. First set was a little sloppy again, but tightened up for the last two sets. Happy about completing the weigh for dips. Thinking about the dips, I'm sure doing them is contributing to my lack-luster OHP performance, as I'm doing them with very little lean so they are working my shoulders pretty hard. This means that I'm getting shoulder work in 3x week. I don't want to stop, but wonder if stopping will really up my OHP performance.

I wonder if this is feasible on my current lifting schedule. I'm still thinking about switching to Madcow, or maybe even a 3-day/week version of 5/3/1. I'm still getting stronger on my current plan (modified Stronglifts), so maybe I'll wait until I plateau on squats/deads before switching. I'd also probably progress a little faster if I ate more, so I'm starting to throw a little tempeh and tofu into my lunches. I don't really want to eat more than I currently do, and I have no desire to start taking multiple protein shakes per day, so I'll just have to live with the smaller/slower gains. I don't live to lift, I just lift to improve my life a bit.

Someone was doing squats with the pins set really high so I didn't feel like taking the extra time to work in and reset everything. Did leg press on the angled leg press platform and power cleans instead. Power cleans I don't do regularly so I'm sure my form wasn't the greatest and didn't try anything heavy as it was just warmup anyway. I somewhat liked doing them, probably work them into the routine at some point. Happy about hitting both OHP and deadlift today. Had great energy, sipped a bit of coffee before the workout, focused myself right before the work weight lifts. Not lifting since last week probably helped by giving me a whole week to recover. Pullups were shit, but doesn't matter as they are just icing on the cake anyway (assistance).

I've been skipping a lot of workouts lately. My energy and mood have been pretty shitty, between lack of sleep from my son not sleeping consistently and a friend of mine dying from cancer. I just haven't been feeling it on the days that I've decided to lift. My last few workouts definitely attest to my poor mind/body state, as I've struggled more than I should have. I need to make sure I am eating enough as well.

I weighed myself once last week after waking up for shits and giggles and the scale showed 192 lbs. I guess I'm eating enough because that's about 3 lbs heavier than I was the last time I weighed myself. My wife says my back is looking bigger, so as long as she still thinks I look good then that's all I really care about.

Shitty workout. Deadlift was fail. By the start of the 4th rep there was no leg drive left in me and it was all lower back. Felt the back rounding right off the floor so I dropped the bar and called it a day.

Depth wasn't the greatest on squats, but it looked like I was about parallel. Put out a huge effort to get it done, happy I finished all 5. Asked for a spot on the bench given the rough time I had with it the last time (barely got 3 reps before having to dump the bar over one of the pins in the power rack ). Managed 3 no problem, spotter applied practically no pressure on #4 and minimal on #5. Could have done 4 without the spot, so calling it as such. Powered through the rows, pretty good lift. Ran short on time so only did one set of BW dips, then stretched out and headed back to work.

Had a 10-day break from working out due to various reasons (mostly because I wasn't at work on my regular workout days and the rest of my schedule didn't permit gym time). Got back into the gym this past Friday and decided to change it up just for a couple workouts due to my eating being shit over the previous two weeks and having low energy. Went at 80-90% of my normal work weight and went for max reps.

Felt off going into the gym, so used my last warmup weight from the previous session's work weight and went for max reps. This way I wouldn't have to deal with having a shitty workout and most likely not hitting any of my goals. Could have muscled out 1 or maybe 2 more reps on squats but my form went to shit fast after rep 5.

Went for max reps again at the lower weights, same as last time. I usually go pretty light with squats on deadlift day, so amped it up a little by making sure all the squats were all the way down, hams touching calves, and went for broke. I had more strength left in my legs, but I ran out of steam and didn't want to dump the bar. Need to work on my conditioning! OHP was pretty good. Was hoping for more but also started to gas out at the end. Held it up a little too long on rep 10 to catch a breath and had nothing for the next one. Was hoping for more on the deadlift as well, but was happy with 7. Probably out of energy from the squats and OHP. My gym set up a rack of kettlebells up to 50 lbs, so I figured I'd give it a go. I alternated kettlebell clean and press with pullups. I feel pretty worked right now, especially my shoulders and core. Feels good!

Tried a Vega Pre-Workout Energizer sample today (thanks, Robert!) - gave me plenty of energy going into the workout. I was practically bouncing by the time I got to the gym. Still feeling pretty energetic, even 4 hours later. Squats went really well, hit them pretty confidently. Was feeling great going into bench but stalled on the last rep. Rows were pretty good though, started to use a little momentum to get the bar up towards the end. I'll probably have to try 200 lbs a few times before I can complete a strict form set. Since I failed at the bench but still felt like I had tons of energy left, I hit up some dumbell presses and tricep work as supplemental exercises today. I'm really frustrated by my lack of improvement on bench press. Not sure how to proceed from this point. Either I continue to push forward and advance really slowly on bench, or I switch to another program to see if my gains improve.

Discussing finances with my wife lead to the conclusion that I need to reign in my protein powder spending and either find cheaper powder or just increase the amount of protein rich food I eat (tofu/tempeh). I might just drop the "meal replacer" protein mix and only use the RAW protein powder instead. It will be a little cheaper, but the meal replacer has lots of other goodies in it.

Glad to finally have completed a full week of lifting again after having 7 partial weeks in a row, a few of which I only lifted one day during. My hands were a bit cracked today, so I applied the crazy glue and medical tape and got to work.

Had a vega pre-workout energizer again today. Not as bouncy as I was on Wednesday, but still elevated energy levels. I probably didn't even need it today as I felt pretty good beforehand. It was my last sample anyway and it's a little too expensive for me to justify using it on a regular basis. Read something online yesterday about pause squats so I gave it a try as part of the warmup. Same as a regular squat, but descend to parallel over 6 seconds, pause at parallel for 3 seconds, then explode up. I could have gone heavier, as they were pretty easy at 165.

Thought I would hit the OHP today, but was stupid and switched my grip a little on the final set which changed the dynamics and I couldn't compensate.

I knew I would hit the deadlift today and I didn't disappoint myself I noticed however that on the heavier sets I was hitting the tops of my knees with the bar on the way down. I figured out that I'm not pushing my hips forward enough at lockout, so the bar isn't sliding down my quads. I need to work out squeezing my glutes hard at the top and shoving the hips forward.

After pullups I decided to hit the kettlebells for more clean and press action, as I enjoyed it last time. The superset pyramid wore me out, but I could have probably continued to 60 lbs. My gym only has bells up to 50 lbs

Missed Monday as I wasn't in to work, so no gym time. I'll do another 3 consecutive workouts including today and then I have a 2.5 week vacation during which I'll be in Germany.

I've put on weight! I am currently at 196 lbs, up from about 188-189 last time I weighed myself back in October/November. It would only make sense, as I am definitely getting stronger, which means more/denser muscle fiber, which means more mass. Still have no idea what my bodyfat % is, so I'm not sure how much of it is lean mass. I'm sure I'm not over 20%, even though my stupid biometric scale has me at 23%!

Hit the squats, although I lost count during the set. I'm pretty sure I did 5, but not completely sure. Going to up the weight anyway. If I didn't hit 5 I'll probably find out next time. Pissed about the bench. I just can't get better than a partial set at 210. I need to figure out how I'm going to proceed. I should probably just bite the bullet and buy Wendler's 5/3/1 ebook and give it a go. Completed the rows, but used some leg drive so I'm going to repeat the weight next time. Did some tricep arm extensions again, a bit heavier this time at lower reps. Had no trouble banging these out.

I realized that even though I've put on a bit of weight, since I'm going to be on vacation and not able to maintain my normal eating habits I'll probably loose a bit of that. I wonder how much I'll drop...

Workout was shit today. Still not able to complete the OHP at 145. I guess I should try a deload, on OHP and bench as well. I'm wondering if the assistance work I've been throwing in is what's screwing with my main upper body lifts. Going to keep pullups, but drop everything else. Or maybe I'll start 5/3/1 when I get back from break at the beginning of June. Grip was shit today, could tell on my 3rd deadlift warmup already. Bar was slipping down my fingers by rep 3 on the final set so I didn't even try for #4. Bar just seemed fucking heavy today. Shouldn't have been, given how easy I hit 385 last week.

I'm currently in Bonn, Germany, on a work trip with a bit of vacation tagged on. Not a lot of vegan eats to be had here - there is one good although pricey vegetarian/vegan place I've found called Cassius Garten (http://www.cassiusgarten.de/). It's buffet style and is priced by weight. If you just eat salad it's not so bad, but start piling on the heaver stuff (protein sources) and it gets pricey fast. My one full plate cost me 16 Euro (~$21). There are a few asian and indian places around that probably have some vegan fare. One that I tried today, Taj India (http://www.taj-india-bonn.de/), had some decent vegan options. Other than the Cassius Garten which was by definition veggie/vegan, everyplace else has a whole lot of meat on the menu. Not surprising to me though, I'm pretty familiar with German food and eating habits.

I was itching to move some weight, since my last session was almost 2 weeks ago, so I looked up a couple of gyms in the city that will do 1-day free guest passes. Health City (http://www.healthcity.de/unser-angebot/healthcity-bonn-all-inclusive) and Fitness First (http://www.fitnessfirst.de/lifestyle-club/bonn.html). I asked one of my local coworkers about the two clubs and she recommended Fitness First, as it was a larger gym with more options. I checked it out and it had the requisite barbells and squat rack so I was good to go. Had to do a bit of math though, since I'm used to working in pounds and of course here everything is in kilos. I much prefer kilos anyway, but it's easier at home to just go with the numbers on the plates.

I'm not marking anything as failed on this workout, since it's off schedule. I'm just happy that my lifts are still at decent levels, given my poor eating (really low on quality proteins) I was only planning on going to 140 kg on squats, but felt pretty good after pushing it up so I went higher. My depth seemed poor (felt slightly above parallel) on some of the reps, and my form was a bit off. The bench there was a bit strange. The top rack on it was really high, I actually had to push my shoulders up off the bench to clear the bar and to rack it again. My ass came up a bit on the last two reps of the last set, but as soon as the bar cleared a few inches off my chest I mashed it back on the bench. Rows were OK, did 5 reps but used a bit of hip drive on the last couple so I'm calling it as 3. Wanted to work my shoulders a bit more so did some standing dumbell presses, but my strength was pretty spent by then so performance was poor (as I thought it might be). It was a nice night so I went for a quick jog afterwards. There's a nice stretch with a pedestrian way in between two parks that a round trip ended up being just about 3k. I probably won't be able to find a gym again until I get home, as I'll be out in the country for the next week. Glad I got this in. Feel much better. Now I'm going to stuff my face with some Tofu.

Finally back to the gym after an extended break. I could come up with plenty of excuses, but I won't. I just didn't get my ass in gear until this week.

I've decided to give 5/3/1 a go, starting next Monday, so I needed to get an idea of where I stand with my lifts. I worked up to a set of 5 at a reasonably easy weights (by no means my 5RM) and then incrementally went for a low 1RM. I probably could have done 5-10 lbs more on each lift. I went low because I've lost some strength over the past 6 weeks (not including the vacation workout I had in Bonn a few weeks back) and didn't want to risk overdoing anything. That and I don't mind starting a little light and working back up again. I'm not looking to compete in any strongman comps, I just want to be reasonably strong, which I already consider myself. Everything from this point forward is just a bonus.

WednesdaySquat: 5x265, 1x315Bench: 5x165, 1x220BB Row: 5x165, 1x205

Squat was starting feel heavy right away so I made 265 my x5 set instead of the 285 I originally planned. Started feeling my back strain a little around 295 and I barely made the one rep at 315. I might have been able to power out 325 but no reason to risk it. I was pretty impressed with my bench, considering I could barely hit 3 reps at 210 six weeks ago. Maybe I was over-training my chest? BBRow was about where I suspected it would be. So I lost a bit of strength over the break...

Squats/jump rope was just a warmup today, as my legs were damn sore from Wednesday. Since the power rack was in use, I power-cleaned all the OHP sets. Deadlift went OK. My back and legs were sore and pretty worn out. I should have been able to pull more weight than that but I'm OK with it. 5x185, 5x235, 3x285, 3x335, 1x375, 1x395. I probably could have hit 405 but the extra 10 lbs is not a big deal. I was happy that my form was pretty good until I hit 375. I thought it would have been worse earlier. On the last two pulls my legs were practically useless and I ended up pulling stiff-legged. I don't mind starting a little lower and working back up. This weekend is going to suck - not looking forward to the soreness.

Legs were pretty sore over weekend, but not as bad as they were on Friday. Thought I'd be able to bang out more dips and chins, but they were harder than I anticipated. Cut the sets at 3 as I was starting to feel worn.

Today

Jump rope: 5 sets alternated with sets of 2xchins

Deadlift:5x235 lbs5x27010x310

Glute ham raise: 3x5Hanging leg raise: 3x5

10 reps of deadlift wore me out. I kept the assistance a bit low to not completely burn myself out. I could have done more sets/reps on GHR, but as this was my first time doing them and after the big deadlift set I wanted to pace myself. I left the gym feeling like I've had a great workout though, so today must have gone well.